Another week, another Dortmund wonderkind. Gio Reyna, 17, became the youngest German Cup goal scorer in midweek and is the son of two former USA internationals. With Marco Reus injured, we could be seeing more of Reyna.
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Until Tuesday evening, the last time an American called Reyna scored a goal in the German Cup was at the tail end of the last century, as Claudio Reyna notched for Wolfsburg against Sportfreunde Siegen. The Wolves went on to lose in the semifinals to eventual winners Werder Bremen.
Four years later, his son Giovanni was born while Claudio was playing for Sunderland in the Premier League and, 13 years after that, Gio exacted a meaure of delayed retribution with a stunning strike against Bremen in the German Cup. Unfortunately for the family, and for Borussia Dortmund, Gio's mezmerizing, slalom dribble and dipping, curling strike wasn't enough to stop BVB crashing out.
But it was enough to take a little of the spotlight away from a certain 19-year-old Norwegian, who also got on the scoresheet in the 3-2 loss. Just for a change, it wasn't Erling Haaland setting records, it was Reyna, who became the youngest player ever to score in the German Cup. That landmark came a couple of weeks after he became the fifth-youngest player in Bundesliga following a debut against Augsburg just 19 days after his 17th birthday.
Big shoes to fill
The elusive footwork, effusive confidence and fearlessness of youth, along with the stateside accent and yellow and black shirt, make Christian Pulisic an obvious point of comparison. But although the pair both used passports gained through their European heritage (in Gio's case his father's mother is from Portugal) and left America early to take their chances in the Bundesliga, Reyna's backstory is a little different to that of his compatriot.
His footballing father won 112 caps for his country, played at three World Cups and was the first American to captain a European team while his mother Danielle Egan Reyna also won a handful of caps for the USA. After his playing career ended, Claudio became sporting director of MLS team New York City FC, where Gio, named after Claudio's Rangers teammate Giovanni van Bronckhorst, came through the ranks.
Like father, like son: Football in the genes
Several players who've made it to the Bundesliga have been sons of professional footballers. Some would go on to have even more successful careers than their fathers while others would forever toil in their shadows.
Image: Reuters/M. Meissner
Sebastian Hoeness
The son of 1970s and '80s Bayern Munich star Dieter Hoeness holds up his award after being named coach of the year for leading Bayern's reserves to the third-division title earlier this year. The championship helped convince Bundesliga side Hoffenheim to hire him as their new coach. Unlike his father or Uncle Uli, Sebastian never made it to the Bundesliga as a player.
Image: Imago Images/Kleer/J. Huebner
Giovanni Reyna
With this goal against Werder Bremen in February 2020, 17-year-old Giovanni Reyna became the youngest goal scorer in German Cup history. Father Claudio played for several teams in Europe, including Leverkusen and Wolfsburg. Both of Giovanni's parents were US national team players, with Claudio making 112 appearances for the men's team and Danielle Egan making six for the women.
Image: picture-alliance/D. Ewert
Erling Haaland
Erling Haaland has taken the Bundesliga by storm since joining Borussia Dortmund from Red Bull Salzburg in the January transfer window. The 19-year-old Norwegian set a league record by scoring seven goals in his first three games. His father didn't play in the Bundesliga but defender and midfielder Alf-Inge Haaland did spend several seasons in the Premier League and won 34 caps for Norway.
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Leroy Sane
Bayern Munich recently confirmed what had long been expected, announcing the signing of Leroy Sane. The 24-year-old Sane came up through Schalke's youth system and graduated to the first team before moving to Manchester City in 2016. Decades earlier, his father, Sengal striker Souleyman Sane, was one of the Bundesliga's first African players, spending most of his time at Wattenscheid 09.
Image: Reuters/L. Smith
Oliver Kahn
Long one of the world's top goalkeepers, Oliver Kahn joined Bayern Munich's board this year and is to succeed Karl-Heinz Rummenigge as CEO in 2022. Kahn had a stellar career between the sticks for both Bayern and Germany. Less well-known is the fact that his father Rolf also played in the Bundesliga, as a striker for Karlsruhe in the early 1960s.
Image: Bongarts/Getty Images/R. Orlowski
Stephan Beckenbauer
Limited to just 12 Bundesliga matches with Saarbrücken in 1992-93, Stephan went on to coach in Bayern Munich's youth system. In 2015 he died of a brain tumor at just 46. As for his father, Franz, there is little he didn't achieve in German and international football. However, his reputation has been tainted by allegations of fraud related to Germany's successful bid to host the 2006 World Cup.
Florian Hübner (left) helped Union Berlin avoid the drop in their first-ever season in the Bundesliga, while older brother Benjamin's Hoffenheim claimed sixth place in the coronavirus-interupted campaign. Father Bruno, who made 76 Bundesliga appearances for Kaiserslautern in the 1980s, is now sporting director at Eintracht Frankfurt.
Image: Imago Images/M. Koch
Philipp Max
Philipp Max (right) currently plays for Augsburg, having made his Bundesliga debut for Schalke in the Revier derby against Dortmund in the spring of 2014. His father, Martin Max, also had a spell at Schalke, where he was part of the "Eurofighters" team that won the UEFA Cup in 1997. Max later went on to play for 1860 Munich and was the Bundesliga's top scorer in 2000 and 2002.
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Cha Du-ri
The South Korean international (left) had a long career with several stops in Germany, including two of his father's old clubs, Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayer Leverkusen. The father, Cha Bum-Kun is a Bundesliga legend, having led Frankfurt in scoring in three consecutive seasons in the early 1980s and winning both the German Cup and the UEFA Cup. In Leverkusen he added a second UEFA Cup.
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Leonardo Bittencourt
The 26-year-old midfielder came through Energie Cottbus's youth system, before moving on to Dortmund, Hannover and Cologne. He's currently at Bremen, having joined from Hoffenheim after a loan spell. Father Franklin, a striker from Brazil, also played in the Bundesliga, making 22 appearances for VfB Leipzig and 39 for Energie Cottbus. Leonardo has represented Germany at several youth levels.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C. Jaspersen
Palko Dardai
Palko Dardai, who is on the books of Hertha Berlin, is not nearly as well-known as his father, Pal Dardai, a midfielder who made 297 appearances for the club between 1997 and 2011. Pal also worked at the club as a youth and spent a number of years as coach of the Bundesliga side. Still only 21, Palko has made just nine league appearances for Hertha to date.
At 35, Daniel Baier is now winding down his playing career at Augsburg, but he's made well over 200 appearances in the Bundesliga, many more than his father, Jürgen, who had just 31 games in the top flight. Jürgen did have a good career in the second division, though, making 329 appearances, mostly for Darmstadt and Kickers Offenbach.
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Philipp Bargfrede
The 30-year-old midfielder (second from left) continues to ply his trade at Werder Bremen and under his last contract extension, in 2018, is meant to remain at the club after his playing days are over. Father Hans-Jürgen Bargfrede played more than 200 games for St. Pauli, though just 15 of them were in the top flight. He's currently involved in the second-divison club's youth system.
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"He's much more of an athlete than I was, much more of a goal scorer. He's very technical and has a good feel for the game. He has a great free kick and can strike a ball well. Danielle was a great runner, and he's a runner," Claudio said recently of his son.
Solid mentaility
In an interview with BVB's TV channel, Gio admitted that: "It’s crazy at times to think all my friends are in high school back home and I’m in Germany playing professional Fussball right now in the Bundesliga." But his composure and professionalism have impressed many at the club including Otto Addo, who won the title with Dortmund and now takes charge of the club's youth teams.
"Gio is someone who’s made a lot of progress, who’s mentally strong and who can handle pressure," Addo said. "He does things that show he plays without fear and with confidence but he’s also grounded off the pitch, which I really like."
Much like Haaland, and before that, Jadon Sancho, Reyna has so far been eased in to the first team gently by Lucien Favre. But the announcement on Wednesday afternoon that Dortmund skipper Marco Reus faces a month out injured could see the American get more of a chance than might have been expected, particularly given Favre's obvious reservations about Mario Götze.
Big ambitions
"In training you can see that he has something special. If you can’t see that, you’re blind," said Favre recently.
Reyna (right) celebrates his goal with Erling HaalandImage: imago images/Team 2
Recognizing Reyna's talent is one thing, trusting him in a key phase of the season is another. Dortmund travel to Leverkusen on Saturday and also face Borussia Mönchengladbach, derby rivals Schalke and Paris Saint-Germain twice before mid-March in a run of games that could make or break, their season.
But, speaking at a press conference on Thursday, the Dortmund coach suggested Reyna's time could be now. "Gio in the starting 11? Why not? He has so much versatility and can play in many different positions," the Swiss tactician said.
Judgements on Reyna should come more slowly than on his team. Given BVB's promotion of youth in recent years, he seems to be in one of the best places for his development. But, as befitting an attacking player who already looks composed on the biggest of stages, Reyna has set his aims for the season nice and high: "Help the team, score goals, get assissts, work hard defensively and just try to win the Bundesliga this year," he said.
Achieving that lofty last goal is something his father never managed to achieve.
